Scriptures/The Book of Mormon

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Citations

"I tell thee these things as a witness unto thee—that the words or the work which thou hast been writing are true."
38) And now, verily I say unto you, that an account of those things that you have written, which have gone out of your hands, is engraven upon the plates of Nephi;
39) Yea, and you remember it was said in those writings that a more particular account was given of these things upon the plates of Nephi.
40) And now, because the account which is engraven upon the plates of Nephi is more particular concerning the things which, in my wisdom, I would bring to the knowledge of the people in this account—
41) Therefore, you shall translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of king Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained;
42) And behold, you shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words.
43) I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.
44) Behold, they have only got a part, or an abridgment of the account of Nephi.
45) Behold, there are many things engraven upon the plates of Nephi which do throw greater views upon my gospel; therefore, it is wisdom in me that you should translate this first part of the engravings of Nephi, and send forth in this work.
46) And, behold, all the remainder of this work does contain all those parts of my gospel which my holy prophets, yea, and also my disciples, desired in their prayers should come forth unto this people.
Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.
The same (roughly) as Isaiah 29.
"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God."
Prophecy/promise given to Joseph in Egypt concerning the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
"Read this, I pray thee ... I canot; for it is sealed."
"'How and where did you obtain the Book of Mormon?'
Moroni, who deposited the plates in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, being dead and raised again therefrom, appeared unto me, and told me where they were, and gave me directions how to obtain them. I obtained them, and the Urim and Thummim with them, by means of which I translated the plates; and thus came the Book of Mormon."
State of research on cement in pre-columbian Americas.
Mostly a review of findings from his study of errors in the Book of Mormon text.
A discussion on research into the statistically distinct voices in the Book of Mormon.
An interesting discussion of the desconstructive properties of the Book of Mormon.
A presentation and defense of the heartland model.
Discusses horse remains found in Mexico, Montana, and other place, dating from the timeframe of the Book of Mormon.

Goals

Contents

Study Resources

Linguistic Issues

The 1828 Webster's dictionary is a common go-to for understanding the language of the Book of Mormon, though Royal Skousen provides good evidence that some definitions appear to be of clearly older origin in odd places, so I would tend to recommend that although the 1828 dictionary is a good resource, getting familiarized with etymologies is also recommended for understanding the meaning of words in the Book of Mormon.

The Lehites are said to speak both Hebrew and Egyptian from the beginning. The Mulekites, when encountered, are said to speak a form of Hebrew so changed, due to their lack of records, that Mosiah had to reteach them Hebrew in order to be able to communicate with them. It is implausible that this mixing could have avoided affecting the language of the Nephites. We should expect the introduction of new words as well as some grammatical simplification. It also seems implausible that the Lamanites, who were separated from the Nephites and also lacked records, would not have had their language evolve in a culturally distinct way. No mention is made of a big language difference. It may be that although their language evolved, some minimal contact allowed them to remain mutually intelligible.

Even with their records, we should expect the Nephite language to have evolved as well.

There also appears to be some Jaredite influence on names, and peoples separating from the Nephites in the north and then reconnecting seem likely to have further influenced the language.

Although this describes what I would consider the known influences, it seems likely that other peoples existed with other linguistic traditions, and it is unknown how to think about this.

See: Nephite Hebrew

Unique Words

Words Used In Interesting Ways

People

Prophets or Keepers of the Sacred Records

Kings and Chief Judges

Rebels and Dissidents

3 Anti-Christs

Words of Mormon mentions many anti-Christs and false prophets during the days of Benjamin. Presumably they would have been mentioned in some detail in the Lost 116 Pages.

Groups

Major Lineage Groups

Political Subgroups

Cross-References